Aico Smoke Alarms

[Tazer]

Hi All

Seem to be having a major problem with the Aico ei2100 multi sensor smoke alarms

For the past six months, through out the day or night I get a loud beep from the alarm randomly, sometimes every couple of mins, sometimes, every 10 - 20 mins, sometimes a few times in the day.

Ive checked the neutral and interconnect wiring as Aico told me the reading should be 0. Having checked this on the weekend, all the readings came back a 0.

The beep is always in the loft alarm so I took this out, then the next one in line starts beeping.

I swaped the loft alarm with the downstairs alarm, then the same loft alarm which is now placed downstairs starts beeping

Its drving me crazy.....

Any ideas, its a new install, no dust in the chambers, I have swapped out the loft alarm with a brand new one which I purchased and that one starts beeping much louder and every 30secs.

Running out of ideas

 

[riveralt]

I assume the green light is on and steady and that when testing the alarms they all work as should.
How many alarms do you have on the circuit and is the loft alarm the last?
Is this a dedicated smoke alarm circuit or do it share with the lights.
Are any of the alarms placed outside the remit of the manufacturers instructions. Some smoke alarms have problems coping with big variations in temperatures such as you will get in the loft or when set too close the wall or too near fluorescent lights.

It sounds as if your loft alarm has lost power and the battery back up is now losing its power hence the beep. The new one has a fully charged battery hence the louder beep but is still not getting charged.
Do you know how to check the voltage on the circuit to make sure each smoke alarm is receiving power?

 

[Tazer]

HiYa

Thanks for getting back to me.

Its a dedicated Smoke alarm circuit on its own RCBO 6amp.

No lights, just the smoke alarms.

I have 3 ei2100 multisensor smoke alarms, Loft, 1st and Ground floor hallway. I have one other in the front porch and I have a CO2 near the boiler.

I have tested the loft alarm which is the first one in line as I have a dedicated CU in the loft. Im getting about 244v and same goes to the other smoke alarms.

Theres definitely a green solid light on all smoke alarms and every time I get a beep I get an amber or reddish light pop up as well.

The loft is generally warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

In terms of lightling, I do have downlights in all the ceilings but the smoke alarms are not near the lights, probably a foot or two away.

 

[riveralt]

These are the site instructions.

http://www.aico.co.uk/where-do-i-site.html

I was going to say replace the alarm it may be broken but I see you have already done that and the new one placed in the loft still beeps.

I will assume you have wired the circuit properly. If so
other than physically testing that the wiring is all correctly terminated which I assume you have done, the only other other option is to test the circuit itself using the appropriate test equipment.
Alternatively break the circuit down and see what happens when you just have the first alarm (I think that is the loft alarm) connected to the circuit.

 

[flameport]

Ive checked the neutral and interconnect wiring as Aico told me the reading should be 0. Having checked this on the weekend, all the readings came back a 0.

What does this actually mean?

0 is meaningless - do you mean ohms, volts, amps etc.?
Measured between which two points using what piece of equipment?

 

[Alarm]

Amber light = the amber fault
light will flash once every 40 seconds to inform the user. Action can then be taken to
replace the unit, long before the contamination causes nuisance alarms.

Also is the multi sensor located

Places where the normal temperature can exceed 40°C or be below 4°C (e.g. attics, furnace
rooms, directly above ovens or kettles etc.) as the heat/steam could cause nuisance alarms.

I know you may have gone through this but it is a process of elimination.

 

[Tazer]

Hi All

Ok over the weekend I took everything apart and rechecked everything.

Starting from the loft which is the first in line, took everything apart, checked the cabling mains coming in and going out to the next alarm.
Refed all the wires back into the alarm

Switched on the RCBO then used the meter to read the Volatage from live to neutral which read as 244volts.

Checked Interconnect to Neutral which read 0 volts

Checked Nuetral to earth and IC to earth which also read as 0 volts.

Re did this to all alarms in the house, everything looked fine.

For the first several hours, I thought the problem had been solved, didnt hear anything no beeps wots so ever.

The just as night was falling the damn beep started. The beep happens in no precise order for example it will beep for a min or two, then wont hear anything for 10-20 mins or for a few hours.

One thing I did notice beep happens from random alarms were as I thought it was the Loft one that happens...other day I was downstairs and that one beeped.

I literally have no idea wot to do.... Im now cotemplating on getting rid of the AICO alarms and going for something basic...